In May, Oak Bay Fire Department Acting Assistant Chief Duane Adsett is Twitter famous after an early morning duckling rescue. Adsett rushed to Bee Street when the fire department was alerted of ducklings trapped in a storm drain. (Twitter photo)

It’s not easy being Green, says Andrew Weaver, but it’s exciting when you have a Green caucus. As of early the morning after the May 9 election, the BC Green Party did.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Weaver, who won his seat in Oak Bay-Gordon Head handily addressed the crowd gathered in Victoria at the Delta Ocean Pointe Hotel.

The BC Liberal Party earned 43 seats, including leader Christy Clark. The NDP earned 41 seats including leader John Horgan

Two trophies and a silver lining highlighted the Oak Bay News at the annual provincial newspaper Ma Murray Awards. The Oak Bay News earned second place in the Newspaper Excellence Award for its circulation category. Black Press coverage of the 2016 visit from the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge earned a top nod for photo essay, with design by by Oak Bay News staffer Christine van Reeuwyk featuring photos by fellow Black Press multi-media journalists Arnold Lim and Don Descoteau.

In the under 25,000 circulation category, van Reeuwyk’s emotional photo from the Oak Bay High Tour de Rock head shaving event earned first place.

A marathon public hearing into the Bowker building stretched into the wee hours of the next day, without resolution. The public hearings started at 6 p.m. with the bulk of the conversation surrounding the proposal for a four-storey, mixed-use building at the corner of Bowker and Cadboro Bay. The public filled the 400-seat Dave Dunnet Community Theatre early on with the crowd thinning as the evening gave way to Thursday morning. Council deferred a decision to the following Monday when they approved the build by a narrow vote.